Vancouver Magazine Wine Awards

[Coop]

I disagree that only wine geeks will search out the unusual wines from the old world. I think if people were encouraged to search them out they may eventually become wine geeks. A lot of the charm of wine drinking for me comes from knowing the history of a wine. That's probably why I find Italian wines so interesting and Aussie wines dull. Perhaps it's also the thrill of the hunt that interests me. If I could find that unusual bottle from Spain, Italy or France at Save On Foods maybe it wouldn't seem so exotic.

Chances are if a wine has recieved a medal or award or some other form of promotion, it's already to popular to drink.

Edited January 18, 2005 by Coop (log)

[barolo]

I disagree that only wine geeks will search out the unusual wines from the old world. I think if people were encouraged to search them out they may eventually become wine geeks. A lot of the charm of wine drinking for me comes from knowing the history of a wine. That's probably why I find Italian wines so interesting and Aussie wines dull. Perhaps it's also the thrill of the hunt that interests me. If I could find that unusual bottle from Spain, Italy or France at Save On Foods maybe it wouldn't seem so exotic.

Chances are if a wine has recieved a medal or award or some other form of promotion, it's already to popular to drink.

←

Maybe some non-geeks will search out unusual wines, but somehow I doubt that there would be enough to change the buying patterns of major stores. But what do I know? For sure some will eventually become geeks, but perhaps I differ from you in thinking that this will be a very small number.

I agree that the thrill of the hunt is part of it - but isn't that, versus chasing points, medals or cult wines, the sign of a geek.

[James Kendal]

Nice job Jamie,

I appreciate the cross selection of wines and, that, consumers will be able to find most of these wines on the shelves. I like the fact that Cedar Creek and Quail's Gate are getting a leg up in the big red category over Vincor and MHFE.

Cheers,

James

[jamiemaw]

Nice job Jamie,

I appreciate the cross selection of wines and, that, consumers will be able to find most of these wines on the shelves. I like the fact that Cedar Creek and Quail's Gate are getting a leg up in the big red category over Vincor and MHFE.

Cheers,

James

←

Thank you, at least on behalf of the organizers and judges, because the credit is due them, especially David Scholefield (whom, you'll remember, used to order the bulk of the wine entering this province), Sid Cross (whose wine mneumonics continue to astound), and Christina Burridge. I don't pretend to enjoy their sophistication; on a good day I can scarcely tell an '05 Heineken from a straggler snagged from the back of the fridge.

And certainly, there are many wine sophisticates on this forum whose opinions should be highly valued, even (or perhaps especially) in light of the fact that British Columbians drank some $16 million of Yellow Tail (the success of which is a seeming lightening rod for opinion leaders) product last year. As Coop pointed out:

I hope that dogging Yellow Tail wines, or for that matter all of the non descript Aussie Shirazs (Little Boomey, Banrock Station, that penguin one etc) goes the way of saying Emeril is a hack on this board.

If pressed, I'd have to admit that I'm not a big fan of Emeril myself, but I think Coop's point was that it's a little like shooting ducks in a barrel. I will cede the Bamster this though: He tuned a lot of people into cooking. And certainly, and perhaps not unlike brassy and unsophisticated shiraz, we always knew we could change the channel once we'd outgrown him. And then, as Coop also suggests, move on.

(Incidentally, I'm sure that many of you read the Wall Street Journal's excellent commentary last week on the rise of Australian shiraz, but the relative vapidity (sweet, oaky) in comparing this year to last.)

While I was amused that the Yellow Tail attracted so much fuss (it was but one of 121 award winning bottles), I was curious as to why some other low cost wines did not, namely the 2003 Con Sur Viognier ($10.99--Special Merit Award) and the NV Fossi Roso ($10.95--Best Buy).

Anything that demystifies the wine world works fine for me. Snobbery, and inverse snobbery remains rife, as does confusion. I think it's important to quote David Scholefield, the awards coordinator, from his introduction:

WHY WE DID IT THE WAY WE DID IT

"Why another wine competition? It might be argued that ther are enough wine tastings, dinners, auctions, festivals, galas and seminars already. Wine is better than ever, but shopping is harder.

Wines around the world have improved immeasurably in recent years--one must look no further than our own backyard for conclusive proof. Shopping for wine should be an easy prosition, but strangely, it ain't necessarily so. Somehow the old myths that have always surrounded wine manage to persist. Something that should be easy--perhaps even enjoyable--is made to seem dauntingly complicated. As a result far too often consumers are too intimidated to venture into unfamiliar wine territory.

That's where this competition comes in. We wanted to find a way to take the mystery out of the equation. Wines were therefore judged in 10 broad stylistic categories, often grouping obscure, as-yet-unkowns with the tried and true. Progressive retailers and restaurauteurs around the world have recognized that wine drinkers care more about style and occasion than appelation, vintage and grape variety. Furthermore, price is everything.

Judges were relentlessly browbeaten to taste from the point of view of the consumer. The wine shoppers' first question is always "What's the best value for money?" The judges' selections are meant to answer that question. Wines were tasted blind on a like-with-like bais in three price categories--less than $15, $15-$30 and over $30. Best Buy award winners are wines the judges agreed (judging was by consensus) they would choose to drink at home. The Special Merit winners are exemplary wines of extrordinary quality and value--Best Buys-plus . . ."

While I agree with much of Barolo's commentary (by the way, I think Christina Burridge might have been referring to the relative value, perhaps unclearly, when she lauded the showing of New World wines), I respectfully question this remark:

Looks to me like the results of the wine competition support the proliferation of convenience store selections like Yellow Tail.

Again, the vast majority of wines selected were not "convenience store wines" at all, but represent a broad and diverse range of geography, price range and value and, I think, an appropriate consensus selection for the inaugural year of this competition. Thus far, the consumer has shown a keen interest in the results, especially via the insert being distributed at LDB outlets. i beleive there are bin flags going up too.

In closing, I can only add that, after avery strong start, I hope that this competiton will grow in its appeal for all of the stakeholders: Consumer, winemaker, and agent.

FYI, (and to be completely transparent) for us at Vancouver Magazine, it made a working 'profit' roughly equal to the sale of two additional pages of advertising.

And that should be just enough to ensure it happens again next year.

Thank you all, as always, for your valuable commentary and opinions.

Jamie

PS--I hope, like me, that you also enjoy the refreshing lack of adjectives (nary a "leather", "tar", "cat pee" in the lot), but the useful food pairing information.

Edited January 18, 2005 by jamiemaw (log)

[barolo]

I should add that I do very much appreciate the approach taken - blind tasting, considered from the consumer's point of view, presented in a user friendly format and I picked up some extra copies of the excerpt to pass on to friends.